With the recent upsurge in the number of golfers, a so-called screen golf system, which enables a golfer to practice golf and to play a round of virtual golf using a virtual golf simulation system, has gained popularity.
The screen golf system may be realized by a virtual golf simulation apparatus that senses the velocity and direction of a golf ball that a golfer hits onto a screen installed indoors to display a virtual golf course and displays the progress of the golf ball on the screen. The technology of the screen golf system has evolved in order to enable a user to feel the same realism that the user feels when playing a round of golf on an actual golf course, which exceeds the level of enjoyment of a golf game that is simply played indoors.
However, a screen golf system including a general virtual golf simulation apparatus is limited in its ability to provide the same sense of realism that the user feels when the user plays a round of golf on an actual golf course because a virtual golf course and an image simulating the trajectory of a golf ball on the virtual golf course are realized only through a screen installed in front of the location at which the user hits the golf ball.
In order to overcome this limitation and to provide greater realism to users who enjoy screen golf, technology for realizing an image on a floor between the front screen and a shot plate as well as on the front screen has been proposed.
Korean Patent Application No. 10-2009-0043833 (entitled SCREEN GOLF SYSTEM USING STEREOSCOPIC IMAGE), Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 1991-046376 (entitled GOLF PLAY APPARATUS), and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-334145 (entitled METHOD OF THREE-DIMENSIONALLY CONFIGURING SCREEN TO DISPLAY SPACE) are disclosed as prior art documents related thereto.
However, the above-described prior art documents describe only outputting images to a front screen and to a floor screen. That is, images are output to the floor screen as well as the front screen, unlike the conventional case in which an image is output only to the front screen. When a user plays a virtual golf game, therefore, it is difficult to provide the same sense of realism that the user feels when the user plays a round of golf on an actual golf course.